my moral standing is lying down

So here goes another meme (originally from here)

This one will be full of actual photos of my handwriting (as determined by the poll) so I highly doubt I'll be posting as regularly as I did the song meme! I...might tweak my answers because some of these are a little lame and I already edited some of them because OMG GRAMMAR; LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO USE IT.

( 15 days list )

All posts will be under the meme:handwriting tag.

Went up to fskip=120 then decided to stop. Hi people.

Just finished reading Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English by John McWhorter. Barnes & Noble's online synopsis puts it succinctly:

A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar.

Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.

Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English- and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it's not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition).

For anyone who has an interest in grammar, linguistics, or languages in general, this was a great read. Always engaging; never boring; very enlightening. Nothing in it has "changed" the way I use grammar, but it certainly has revealed the depths and quirks of English grammar and how it has come to have the shape it does. I HIGHLY recommend it!

It does help to have a passing knowledge of a romance language, a germanic language other than English, and a celtic language; the little I know of German, combined with the several years I took of Spanish, helped make some of his examples understandable in practice rather than theory. Unfortunately, I was mostly lost on the Celtic even though I've had an interest in learning Scottish Gaelic since high school. Still, if you're familiar with any of those languages on an introductory/beginner basis, you're good.

If anyone wants to borrow it, I will be happy to lend it out as it was really a pleasure to read!

There's more that I wanted to talk about, but actually have a lot of work to do. =( More later.

The the Impotence of Proofreading by Taylor Mali

Have I mentioned how much I love grammar, and grammar-related cleverness?

Taking a never-ending movie quiz on facebook to kill some time this morning, I came across this gem:

"What was the last movie supervised by Walt Disney but died before it was released?"

It's so tragic when movies die before they're released.

The answer is The Jungle Book, btw.